For the past year+, the Massachusetts Cultural Council has celebrated 40 Years of Fellowships, exploring the stories of some of the amazing artists the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has funded since 1975.
We've assembled some highlights:
The video features excerpts from our interviews with Melinda Lopez, Sean Greene, Carl Phillips, Lisa Nilsson, and Yary Livan. It … [Read more...]

During the Khmer Rouge genocide of the 1970s, Yary Livan's training in traditional Cambodian ceramics put his life in dire peril. But later, it also saved him - and a centuries-old tradition found new roots in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Video features music by past Music Composition Fellow Scott Wheeler
Yary Livan's (Traditional Arts Fellow '12) story exemplifies how … [Read more...]

When we first envisioned the Mass Cultural Council's 40 Years of Fellowships video project, we wanted a title sequence that captured the excellence and innovative spirit of Massachusetts artists. Once we heard Laura Andel's (Music Composition Fellow '99) song Sao Dao, we knew it was the song we wanted: vivid, textured, and brilliantly alive - perfect to accompany Basia … [Read more...]

If you watch the Mass Cultural Council's 40 Years of Fellowships videos, which tell the stories of some of the incredible artists we've funded since 1975, the over-arching story (as we see it, anyway) is that when a community supports artists, the impact is wide-ranging and profound. But the project also tells a parallel story: each video features music by a past MCC Music … [Read more...]

Sean Greene's painting is driven by freedom, feeling, and, above all, exhilarating color. That's the case whether he's painting in his toothbrush-factory art studio, on the walls at Facebook's office, or propped up recovering from a life-altering skateboarding accident. He paints, and he deals with it.
Video features music by past Music Composition Fellow Eric … [Read more...]

Creating intricate works using a traditional paper technique called quilling, Lisa Nilsson doesn't mind working slowly. But when her spell-binding art went viral, her career went through a swift transformation.
Lisa's work was recently featured in the Mass Cultural Council Awardees in Crafts and Sculpture/Installation/New Genres exhibit at the New Art Center in … [Read more...]

Massachusetts has been funding artists for 40 years, and to help illuminate why, we're asking past Artist Fellowships awardees to tell us what happened after they were honored with a state award.
This is the third gallery exploring the history of the Artist Fellowships Program. See the first and second. And if you're a past awardee, visit our Alumni Book to tell your … [Read more...]

In 1990, Carl Phillips was a high school Latin teacher in Falmouth when he had a chance encounter with a Massachusetts poet. That experience led him to apply for a state fellowship in poetry - and onto an extraordinary career exploring the irreconcilable forces of need and desire.
Carl Phillips' thirteenth collection of poetry, Reconnaissance, was just published by … [Read more...]

Massachusetts has been funding artists for 40 years, and to help illuminate why, we're asking past Artist Fellowships awardees to tell us what happened next.
This is the second gallery exploring the history of the Artist Fellowships Program (see the first). And if you're a past awardee, visit our Alumni Book to tell your story. … [Read more...]

When she won a state fellowship in 1987, Alexandra Anthony thought her personal documentary Lost in the Bewilderness was nearly complete. But real life doesn't have a neat ending. Like a journey out of Greek myth, the film project searched for decades before finding its way home.
Mass Cultural Council is celebrating 40 Years of Fellowships by sharing video interviews … [Read more...]